The objective of this research is to develop a planning tool which can be directly applied by Health Systems Agencies to evaluate the effect of three existing administrative technologies on acute care bed requirements. The three administrative technologies are: 1) admissions scheduling systems; 2) outpatient surgery programs, and 3) preadmission or early testing programs. The planning tool to be developed by this research will consist of a set of transferable computer programs which will evaluate the impact of these technologies on acute care bed needs using hospital-specific data currently available in computer readable form. This research will include example applications of these programs to several demonstration hospitals. The proposed research has three aspects of major significance to the health care planning and delivery process: 1. A readily-applied planning tool will be developed. This tool, will be used to evaluate the impact of admissions scheduling systems, outpatient surgery programs, and preadmission testing programs on acute care bed needs. 2. Realistic, achievable acute bed reduction goals will be specified. 3. Large cost savings will result if HSA's properly pursue the bed reduction goals.